sysread . . 4096?

[John Delacour]

Can someone please explain why 2^12 is seen so often as the chunk size in perl 
scripts?  Is there some UNIX reason for this number that really doesn't figure in the 
Mac environment?  I find it more useful to read as large a chunk as the memory will 
sensibly allow.  Do I lose anything by reading in chunks of say 100K?

            while (sysread FILE, $_, 4096) {
                s~x~y~g;
                print;
            }

JD